Sleeping Problem
by Serpenthyne
Summary: FFIV. The light of the fire lit up her eyes and brought out weird little glints in the irises. Edge tried not to stare at them, having only limited success.


Something smashed hard into his unprotected back, and he went from a state of sleep to one of thoughtless action in less time than it took to blink. He didn't have any armor on, but his sword was close at hand, so he snatched it as he rolled into an upright position and prepared to attack whatever had hit him. He didn't even feel the pain, so he'd have it checked out later. The fact that it hadn't killed him was proof that it couldn't have been that bad, since it would've had to smash his spine or whatever to do any serious damage.

Not that Edge was really thinking about what sort of condition his spine was in as he drove the point of his weapon in for the deathblow.

_"Stop!"_ hissed a voice.

And he did. Not because he wanted to obey, but because he felt the magic in the command, locking his muscles into place and rendering him completely motionless.

He couldn't even move his eyes, but he saw something that he thought was green moving around the edge of his vision. There was a shuffling sound, a whisper, and then the magic seeped out of him, leaving him free to move again. Carefully, he pulled himself into a sitting position. He squinted hard in the darkness, closing his eyes when a sudden light flared up. Using one hand to shield his face, he cautiously opened them again, and was greeted by the flickering light of a flame.

At first he thought it was a torch, but then he saw that it was merely a ball of fire hovering just an inch from the summoner's palm. Ah, black magic. The solution to even simple problems. He glanced around some more, sword still in hand, growing more and more puzzled by the second.

"What... what's... going on?" he asked. He'd been sure that some crazy monster had just hit him.

The fire brightened a little, revealing Rydia's tired face. "That was _me,_ you idiot," she snapped. "We haven't seen a living thing around for miles, monster-wise. You almost killed me!"

Mimicking her tone, Edge replied, "Well, sorry! I didn't know it was you!"

The summoner sighed, rubbing her eyes with her free hand. Her voice was irritated. "Why'd you come into my tent, anyway? I'm sure there was plenty of room wherever you were before. _I'm_ not the greatest company to have around."

"Wha - yeah, you are," Edge was startled into saying.

In response, she snarled, "Oh, yeah? Is it 'cause I look good? Because I'm the only available female around?"

That hit a nerve. "No way!" he snapped back.

"What, then?" she hissed. "You sure as heck weren't here when I turned in for the night!"

Though he wouldn't admit it, he felt a little stung. "That's not it," he insisted again. "Okay, fine, so it might've seemed that way, but it's not true."

She huffed, "Well, I'm waiting."

He glared at her. "I'll tell you if you tell me why you kicked me first," he said. "That hurt, too. A lot."

Her reply was snappish. "Good. I'm glad it did. Because you know what? You _snore_ in your sleep, and really loud, too. Like a freaking _airship engine_ or something."

"I do _not!_" he nearly yelled.

"Shhh!" She glared at him. "Don't wake everyone else up, you idiot!"

"I'm not an idiot!" he protested, though he lowered his voice.

Rydia glanced around as though they might get caught and dimmed her fireball a little. "You are too, and you do _so,_" she told him crossly. "You obviously can't hear it because you're dead asleep, but you woke me up. I _tried_ to leave you alone, but I couldn't fall back asleep, so I tried shaking you awake. But that didn't work, either. It was driving me nuts." She lifted her hand and released the fire for a brief moment. Edge worried that she was going to catch the tent on fire, but she only shifted her position before lifting her hand again and letting it settle onto her palm.

"Oh, so you had to kick me and wake me up oh so rudely?" he demanded.

"Well, _yeah,_" she muttered. "I only had two hours of sleep because I took watch already, and then you came in here for whatever dumb reason. Why couldn't you have bothered someone else? Anyone else!" The light of the fire lit up her eyes and brought out weird little glints in the irises.

Edge tried not to stare at them, having only limited success. "I couldn't!" he said defensively. "I was _not_ gonna ask Cecil and Rosa to share their tent, and you know Kain hates not having his own. I didn't feel like putting up a fourth, either."

Not seeming satisfied by his explanation, Rydia asked, "So you had to come in _here?_ I bet Kain wouldn't have made much of a fuss over it. Not even Cecil and Rosa. It's not like you'd be invading a space that's already too small. These tents fit at least five people each, comfortably."

Edge returned her angry look. "What else was I supposed to do?"

"I don't know!" she shot back. "Like it was my problem? I wouldn't care if you didn't have such an annoying sleeping problem!"

"It's not my fault!" It was a weak defense, but it was the only one he had. Besides, he didn't want her to kick him out and make him set up his own tent, not when it would be a waste of time and supplies. And a bruise to his pride.

Rydia groaned. "Edge, you're _so_ annoying." When he started to respond, she quickly continued, "Now hurry up and give me a good reason why I shouldn't just throw you out right this minute. And no, hitting on me _doesn't count._" She narrowed her eyes and gave him her best "I mean it" look, one hand on her hip.

The prince of Eblan bristled at that. "I wasn't going to," he said. "Besides, I already told you why I came in here. I couldn't go anywhere else. Jeez."

She sighed in frustration.

"Wait!" he pleaded.

She waited.

"It's not just that," he went on, trying to phrase his words carefully so that he wouldn't set her off. It was a hard thing to do. "Well, I mean, it's _partially_ that, but not _all_ that. See, the other thing is..." His voice trailed off. He had no idea how to express the thing he wanted to say. Not when she'd outright banned his usual means of communication. Well, with girls, at least, and Rydia was _totally_ a girl. Fire in her eyes and personality and the whole nine yards.

"Waiting," she reminded him.

Finally, he said, "I like you." He didn't bother to edit the words that spilled out of his mouth, and he was a little surprised that he'd let them. Rydia looked surprised, too, but he recovered first and kept talking. "I never, uh, meant to offend you or anything. I guess my style just didn't sit well with you or whatever." That line was pretty much cringe-worthy, so he plowed on boldly. "Please, please don't take anything I say the wrong way. I just want you to know that I find you really - really interesting." He stumbled over that last bit because he didn't think she'd like it if he said what he wanted to.

"I mean, it's not just because you're pretty, even though you really are," he went on. "You're just as brave as any one of us, and you don't hesitate to dive right into battle or anything. And I like that. I like you. I think you're very... admirable." He shut up at that point, because he didn't want to say anything stupid, like _you're so beautiful will you pretty please marry me._ He doubted that she would take to that very well, even if it was one of the many sentiments of his confused and misunderstood but well-meaning mind.

As the quiet dragged on, he fought the urge to hide. Not that he could, what with her fire lighting up the whole tent and leaving him with no place to hide in. He watched her carefully, but she wasn't looking at him, and the way she was staring at the floor on and on only made him nervous. He'd never actually told anyone anything remotely close to what he'd just told her, and it hadn't at all been his normal way of doing so.

"_Fine,_" she mumbled angrily.

"Fine what?" he asked.

With an expression that suggested that she thought her next words went against her better judgment, Rydia said, "You can stay."

"Yes!" he crowed.

"_But!_" she warned him. "I swear if I don't get at least two more hours of sleep, you'll be an icicle come morning."

He promised, "That won't be a problem at all."

Rydia brought her palms together and the fire went out with a _whoosh._ "Good." He heard her crawling over to the far side of the tent. "Oh, and one more thing," she added. When he squinted again, he could just make out her dark shape against the wall of the tent.

After she didn't continue, he prompted her to do so. "What?"

The bitterness in her voice disappeared. "Thanks for that."


End file.
